OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the average ChatGPT query consumes about 0.000085 gallons of water, or the equivalent of one-fifteenth of a teaspoon, in a new blog post discussing the future of artificial intelligence and its environmental footprint.
Sam Altman said the average user request consumes about 0.34 watt-hours of energy — the same amount as an oven uses in one second of operation. The claims come as AI companies increasingly face criticism over their high energy consumption.
Researchers previously predicted that AI could consume more energy than Bitcoin mining by the end of 2025. Last year, The Washington Post teamed up with experts to find that generating a 100-word answer from GPT-4 is equivalent to drinking one bottle of water.
Altman added that the cost of intelligent computing will approach the cost of electricity in the future. At the same time, the water consumption of data centers varies greatly depending on their location. This means that the ecological footprint of AI can vary depending on a company’s infrastructure.